The Annual Contest is, duh, an annual tradition here at LaineyGossip.com. You predict who will win the Oscars, and if your ballot is submitted earliest with the most correct predictions, I send you a kickass prize. At least to me it’s a kickass prize. The prize always includes a gorgeous designer bag. Sometimes the bag is accompanied by bonuses. This year’s Annual Contest post will be posted next week. But if you’re already thinking about your entry (of course you are! you study!) one of the most difficult categories is Best Actress.

As you know, the presumed frontrunner is Emma Stone for La La Land. As you also know, Natalie Portman is capable of a stealth campaign. And, as you’ve seen, Isabelle Huppert surprised everyone when she won Best Actress in a Drama at the Golden Globes. Isabelle is competitive, Isabelle is now on Instagram. She joined about a month ago. Think about that timing. She’s doing a photo shoot for The Hollywood Reporter:


I wonder if that interview/article will come out next week, just as Oscar voting begins.

Last night Isabelle was on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Colbert’s ratings have been going up since Donald Trump took office. So it’s a good time for Isabelle to visit. And while I can’t say that it was the most scintillating interview in terms of what was talked about, it was her overall comportment that made the appearance so effective. Watch how she sits, leaned over the armrest, body directly facing Stephen, elegantly positioning herself towards him. It’s so effortless, it’s so sexy, it’s soooo… French? Because even though her body language said that she was available, Stephen still had to earn her, can you tell? She doesn’t give him much. She must be wooed. He’s doing ALL the work. And this only works when you are Isabelle Huppert!

Watching her with Colbert last night reminded me of the article posted at Gold Derby earlier this week about the Best Actress race. There’s a passionate pro-Huppert contingent among Academy voters. And then there’s this paragraph:

Well, true to her name, Isabelle is indeed very much a beauty. What other 63-year-old actress could pull off her role in “Elle?” Like Helen Mirren in “The Queen” and Julianne Moore in “Still Alice,” other recent over 50-year-plus winners in this category, Huppert’s senior sex appeal could effectively neutralize the age obstacle. A vote for Isabelle would be Oscar’s ultimate French kiss.

Is that kind a gross? The fact that her hotness “neutralises” her age? Yes. But are many, many Academy voters (old rich white men) gross? YES too. If they were already considering voting for Isabelle and then tuned into Colbert last night, it would have solidified their decision. Emma Stone is definitely still in the lead. But Isabelle is coming on.


Here's Isabelle at The Late Show and at AARP The Magazine's Movies For Grownups Awards yesterday.